Panchen Lama
![Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama](/Images/godic/202502/15/Khedrup_Je5016.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202502/15/Faith_Buddhism_Vajra.svg5016.png")
![The 11th and current Panchan Lama recognised by the Chinese government, Gyaincain Norbu](/Images/godic/202502/15/Gyaincain_Norbu,_20085016.jpg")
![Sign referring to the disappearance of the Panchen Lama, Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India](/Images/godic/202502/15/Sign_about_Panchen_Lama,_Manali5016.jpg")
The Panchen Lama (Tibetan: པན་ཆེན་བླ་མ, Wylie: pan chen bla ma THL Penchen Lama), or Panchen Erdeni (Tibetan: པན་ཆེན་ཨེར་ཏེ་ནི།, THL Penchen Erténi), is the highest ranking lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, the lineage which controlled western Tibet from the 16th century until the Battle of Chamdo and the subsequent 1959 Tibetan uprising.